I manage to run out of my favourite magic vault with Hams so close that I can feel the hot breath on my neck, and the minotaur behind him. This is getting a bit monotonous. Let's see what else offers the realm.

My eagle soars high on the mountains and lands on an empty mine, which decides to send gold to me, because of an animal. Ok. Then it lets me give a look all around and... What do we see... What. A hero with 17 defence, haste and mountain walking. The eagle chickens back and I decide to leave the monster well alone. If they decide to come after me I doubt I'll be able to free the magic vault before being sent back to the ether.

That's some lucky levelling and items!

From what I gather, this vault was protected by 2 boars and a minotaur, and you've died multiple times while only killing one boar so far.

You should probably stop attacking it; it is costing you resources. If your wizard dies, then all your active enchantments are dispelled (though summoned creatures don't vanish), your wizard doesn't use any casting skill he has remaining on that turn, and I think you miss out on some amount of research/mana provided by the wizard (though I'm not sure about this point). You are also lowering your fame, but I don't know what effects fame has on the game. If you're very close to killing the vault, that would be one thing, but you're still working on a boar and then you have a minotaur to kill, which is much stronger than a boar.

Granted, I don't know the full extent of your situation, so maybe there are mitigating factors to indicate these suicide runs are a good idea. If your wizard is strong enough to feasibly try to solo this mess, and you don't need him to stay alive, a better use for him might be on the front line to tank for your units that don't respawn.

Making one's own luck by attacking every campsite possible which provide either free units (depending on alignment) or hero XP, gold, and a magic item.

Magic vaults are for suckers. :)

I have a reputation for OP heroes to maintain. Teaming your hero up with disabling units like spiders (web), druids (entangle), or similar units is a diabolical means of racking up XP.

17 defense this early is still rather ridiculous.

TS

Other tricks to try to "donate" XP to your hero:
-Have other units wear down an enemy target, then have your hero try to hit it for the finishing blow.
-Have a unit, especially one with block (like Human Infantry), move around the tactical map just enough that it will only swing on the target once. This will burn some of the target's movement while maximizing your attacker's defense for the retaliation. You can adjust the number of attacks as needed (just be careful about eating attacks of opportunity).
-Human Swashbucklers (T2 unit, needs a War Hall) aren't great in auto-combat, but Fire Pistol and Taunt make them very useful in tactical combat. They can shoot high defense targets or (even better) taunt enemies and run away to distract opposing units. The taunted enemies generally try to avoid suffering attacks of opportunity, so you can spread your other units out some to make the victim run a long distance (sometimes the victim will run the gauntlet though; I'm not sure exactly when the AI considers this the better move). Also, be aware that taunted ranged units are actually pretty good about lining up shots on the harasser that just happen to place your other guys in the line of fire...

If you taunt a melee unit, you can mostly surround it with your units to get free retaliations when the victim runs after the taunting unit. If you have multiple units that can taunt, you can get something running back and forth, unable to be effective. In general the latest taunt is the one that takes priority, so you can taunt a victim that is getting too close to its first harasser to make the victim turn around. Non-taunting Swashbucklers can follow this up with guns to help whittle down a strong victim. Be aware that if you convert a taunted unit, it stays taunted for the full duration and will still try to attack the taunter even though both units are now on the same side!

Also, be aware while kiting that battles in Shadow Magic are capped at 25 rounds.

I know, I'm using the usual tricks. They're coming back as we play. I've cleaned up everything but the vault. I've found 3 objects and levelled a bunch of times. My hero started with 7 or 8 def iirc and received the defence increase option once. I don't know if there is any way to get that more often, perhaps I should drop the bow every time I stop so at least I don't get offered marksmanship? Or is it offered even without any ranged attack?

It's ok I am not complaining, but someone should recognise their luck that's all :)

PS: swashbucklers, I don't think that's a good investment in this map, there's a grand total of 2 neutral encounters between the three of us left. I've levelled close to the max without them. I'd rather have 4 crossbowmen then 2 swashbucklers when I meet that monster.

PPS is auto-combat like in AOW1? I seem to notice less difference between ranged and melee combat.

Mab, Day 8

With treachery in his heart, Tempest attacks me from all sides. We retreat as that is our only option against so strong and daring a foe. But Goblins are conniving and like roaches, always find a way to survive.

TS

Sometimes you just get lucky, and sometimes you don't. In the 1v1 I'm playing with Mimo, I had one hero get up to around 15 defense before items, while the other was stuck at around 11 with items. Both were Human Warriors.

I think you don't get offered Marksmanship unless you have an ability that can make use of it, but you might get offered Archery instead. I'm not sure whether dropping the bow would do you any good; it could actually hurt you if you're able to make use of concealment, since a big glowing item bag on the ground is going to make people curious.

Ah, yeah. Then Swashbucklers aren't a good investment unless water is a huge factor in the map and decent boats are hard to find.

No, auto-combat in AoW1 runs quite differently from auto-combat in SM. There isn't the same delay in rounds before units begin engaging, for one thing, and sometimes the AI leaves one bewildered in how it managed to lose a battle that should have been an easy win.

TS

TS

Mab, Day 9

My neighbors all ally against me. Invaders approach. Things look bleak.

TS

I think I know what I'm doing... I think I know what I'm doing... I think I know what I'm doing... Quest?? Quest! Spam for Quest!!

TS

Mab's goblins are razing the countryside around my and Nekron's lands, stripping it of all the neutral resources, and in perfect style she keeps whining on. Not having to go back to heal after each battle thanks to defence items makes quite the difference.

I keep retreating from his monster hero and do the only thing I can, annoy him. My eagle though decides that it's a good idea to attack in melee goblin executioners, but luckily the goblin retreats without 1-shotting the stupid bird. Now I know that I must not only stay on a mountain but also at some distance from the structure I've just captured. He'll soon have one goblin on each structure making even these hit and run tactics impossible.

Has Mimo been taking lessons from me? :D

Yeah, unlike AoW1, ground-only units can start a combat with a flyer and the flyer will attack a ground-only unit. The ground only unit will retreat as soon as it gets a turn if it can't do anything to the flyer, but the flyer might manage to suicide before then.

Attacking an empty enemy structure will pull in any adjacent units allied with the structure. Units that are hiding out need to be cautious about what they capture, making sure they can then get far enough away from their newly acquired structure that an enemy can't pull them into combat by attacking the structure.

Trying to place a guard at every structure is almost certainly prohibitively expensive, especially if you can put one unit in a place that can assault multiple structures. It also dilutes Mimo's power into easily killed stacks. He isn't going to even try to guard every structure, but he will try to take them back when he feels he can afford to do so. I fondly recall harassing the crap out of his dark elf infrastructure once by using a couple of dwarves sitting on mountains. :)